Typewriter desk



Sept. 29, 1931. E w. SIBLEY 1,825,369

TYPEWRITER DESK Filed Dec. 14, 1929 2, Sheets-Sheet 1 7 1121 611601?Edward mj'il y Sept. 29, 1931. w, SIBLEY 1,825,369

TYPEWRITER DESK Filed Dec. 14, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Alf/01m PatentedSept. 29, 1931 UNITEDYSTATES PATENT! WEDWARD w. SIBLEY, or (KENMORE, NEWYORK, ASSIGNOR To REMINGTQN Ma or BUFFALO, NEW YORK M I TYPEWRITER DESKThis invention relatesto typewriter desks,

and has particular relation to disks equipped with a cover orsupplemental 'topportion and H a typewriter support that is so mountedand g -connected by linkage mechanism that the support and typewritercarried thereby may be swung downwardly into a compartment providedtherefor in the desk when the cover 1s closed.

6 In the present invention the cover and the typewriter support arepivotally attached to the opposite ends of a pair of levers WlllCh arepivotally mounted intermediate their proper. The typewriter supends tothe desk port has an additional pair of levers, mounted adjacent itsother end, and pivotally at? the main body of the desk; fThis; linkageconstrains the typewriter support to' taclzed to movement in apredetermined path. The

Sit-cover has similar auxiliary pivot levers and the cover counteracteach other and the sup-' it moves in a predetermined path and in prodetermined relation with the typewriter support. 4

In desks of this type,

there is a position which the moments of the typewriter and port andtypewriter are. in a state of equilibrium. At one side of this linetheweight ot the typewriter and its support tends to maintain the coverclosed with the typewriter enclosed in the desk and on theother side ofthis line, the weight of the cover tends to maintain the cover open andthe typewriter in an operative position. A There is a resulting tendencyfrom the particular arrangement of levers necessary to move the coverand the support into the desired positions, for the combined weight ofthe cover and typewriter to cause the cover to close violently if it isreleased before it reaches its closed position. One of the objects ofthe present invention is to prevent the cover of the typewriter desk ofthe type described from slamming shut due to its weight and that of thetypewriter, if released before it is entirely closed, by providing meansfor yieldably opposing the force set up in closing the cover.

A further obiect of the invention is to pror Application ma December 14,1929. Serial m. 414,1;31.

a spring that is so arranged that will exert 7 little force during thefirst stages of-the clo'sing movement of the cover but whichwil1-be-:,..

come increasingly active duringthe latter;

stages thercofiparticularlyafter the-aforeponderance of moments tendingto close the cover becomes very large;

A further object of the invention is to provide a typewriter deskhaving; a support," the leveliof-which may be quickly andea'sily variedaccording to the location ofthe'keyboard and the size'and weight ofthepar ticular'make of typewriter employed and which may be provided. withcounter-weights ofdifierent sizes so as to maintain theparts asnearly aspossible in equilibrium, i

Further-objects of the invention will ap-' pear from the followingdescription and ap pended claims.

In'the accompanying drawings: A

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the typewriter;

desk with the cover open. w Fig. '3 's a vertical sectionalview taken online 3-53 of Fig. 2 and showing a typewriter desk with the cover openg 4Fig. 4 isa view similar'to Fig. 3 with the cover closed. 1 Y 1 Figs. 5and dare detail views of theinterchangeable typewriter support showing Io I '55- mentioned zone is reached wherein the .pre-

it in different positions for the purpose of 7 raising or lowering thetypewriter according to the height of the keyboard on thetypewriterused.V l V Referring more in detail to the accompanying drawings, a deskconstructed according to the invention is shown as "comprising spacedpedestals 1 having the usual drawers 2, legs 3, and tops 4 which areconnected across'theback of the desk by a transverse portion 5. A swingcover ortop portion 6 is mounted between the pedestals 1 by means oflinks 7 which are pivotally connected at their forward ends to the sidesof the cover adjacent to the front edge thereof and which extendrearwardly and are pivotally connected to the pedestals 1. The rearportion of the cover 6 is supported by a pair of levers 8 which arepivotally connected intermediate their ends to each of the pedestals 1,as at 9, while the longer ends are pivotally connected to the sides ofthe cover 6 adjacent the rear edge thereof as at 10. The cover may thusbe swung rearwardly and downwardly from a horizontal position in whichit forms a continuation of the desk top to the vertical position betweenthe pedestals shown by dot and dash lines in Fig. 1.

A typewriter support 12 is movably mounted between the pedestals 1 andis supported adjacent its forward edge by a pair of levers 13 which arepivotally connected at their upper ends to each side of the sup port asat 1 1 and at their lower ends to the pedestals 1, as at 15. The rearportion of the support is pivotally connected'as at 16 to the shorterarms of the levers 8. Thus it will beseen from an inspection of Fig. 1that as the cover 6 is swung rearwardly the levers 8 will rotate abouttheir pivots 9 in a clockwise direction thereby causing the shorter armsthereof to raise the rear portion of the typewriter support 12 and swingthe forward portion forwardly about the pivot 15 in a counter-clockwisedirection until the parts assume the positions indicated by the dot anddash lines in Figure 1 in which the cover is entirely open and thesupport and typewriter are in a position to be used. Conversely, when itis desired to lower the typewriter and close the desk, the cover isswung upwardly and forwardly in a counter-clockwise direction.

As shown in detail in Figs. '5 and 6 the typewriter support 12 comprisesa flat metallic plate portion 18 having flanges 19 bent at right anglesthereto about its four edges and a flange 20 formed on one of theflanges and extending inwardly parallel to the plate 18. The levers 13and 8 are pivotally con nected to the support 12 on the flanges 19. Thetypewriter support may be used with the plate portion 18 either at thetop or at the bottom of the flanges 19 as shown in Figs. 5 and 6respectively. Vith the support in the position shown in Fig. 5 thekeyboard of a standard typewriter mounted thereon will be in correctworking position. lVi'th the support inverted, as in Fig. 6, an electrictypewriter, or any other typewriter having a higher keyboard, may beused. The space between the flange 20 and the top portion 18 is adaptedto receive a counter-weight 21, the size of which is determined by theweight and center of gravity of the typewriter to be accommodated sothat the combined moments of the typewriter and its supporting partswill be correctly related to the moment of the cover.

A pair of extension springs 22 are each pivotally attached at one end tothe pedestals 1 and at the other end to one point on the cover. In theembodiment set forth in the drawings the spring 22 is shown as beingsecured to the pedestal 1 at a point directly below the fulcrum of thelever 8 as indicated at 23, and to the cover 6 at a piont rearwardly ofthe pivotal connection designated at 10 indicated at 2 1. In Fig. 1 thespring 22 is shown in its extended position in full lines and in itscontracted'position in dotted lines. The path taken by the end of thespring fastened to the cover is shown by the dot and dash line 25 inFig. 1.

In the operation of the typewriter desk constructed as above described,and in the movement of the cover from the open position shown in dot anddash lines in Fig. 1 to the closed position shown in full lines, thesprings 22, by reason of the particular location of the pivotalconnection 23 in adjacent relation to the pivot 9 for the levers 8, willhave the tension gradually increased as shown by the dot and dash linesso that the spring will exert an increasing tension upon the cover andits operation on the levers 8 to effect a substantial counterbalancebetween the cover and the typewriter support with its typewriter mountedthereon. To prevent the sudden closing of the cover and the suddendropping of the typewriter into its closed or covered position a furthertensioning of the spring is obtained immediately preceding the movementof the cover into its final closed position for preventing a suddenbanging of the cover into closed position 'by counter-balancing itsweight and movement about the pivotal connection on levers 8. In thisway'the operation of the cover and the'typewritersupport with itstypewriter, to open and closed positions is made considerably easier dueto the counterbalancing action of the springs 22 and the sudden jarringof the parts into either the closed or open positions is substantiallyeliminated, particularly when the parts move into the closed position.

The end of the spring 22 which is secured to the pedestals of the deskis attached to a suitable link member 26 which is provided with a screwthreaded end portion receiving an adjusting nut 27 which engages anangle bracket 28 pivotally secured at the point 23 to the pedestal. Bymeans of the nut 27 the tension of the spring may be varied withindesired limits so as to adjust the tension for obtaining the propercounter-balancing of the parts. I

The use of the weights in the typewriter support also permits of theproper compensation for variation in the weights of various typewritersmounted on the support in order that suflicient compensation may be madebetween the weight of the typewriter and the weight of the remainingparts so that the spring 22 may be adjusted to secure thecounter-balancing action.

What is claimed is:

1. A typewriter desk having a compartment and a cover for normallyclosing said compartment, a typewriter support normally housed in saidcompartment, pivotal means supporting the cover and the support andadapted to dispose the support and a typewriter carried thereby in aworking position when the cover is opened, a spring secured at one endin the compartment and at the other to the cover, the tension on saidspring being increased at a substantially uniform rate during the majorportion of the'cover closing movement to effect an approximatecounter-balance between said cover and said support and at an increasedrate during the last part of the cover closing movement to cushion thefinal closing thereof.

2. A typewriter desk having a compartment and a cover therefor, atypewriter sup.- port housed in said compartment, linkage mechanismmovably mounting the cover and typewriter support in the desk for movement into open and closed positions, the typewriter support positioninga typewriter carried thereby for use in the open position of the parts,said linkage mechanism. mounting the cover and the typewriter support sothat the weight of the cover has counterbalancing cooperation with thetypewriter support and the typewriter carried thereby, and a springcooperating with the cover and linkage mechanism, saidspring having aminimum tension in the open position hav-- ing uniformly increasingtension as the cover is moved from the open toward the closed position,and having a. substantially increased tension as the cover approachesthe closed position for producing a substantially uniformcounter-balancing of thecover and the support and typewriter.

A typewriter desk having a compartment and a cover therefor, atypewriter support housed in said compartment, means pivotallyconnecting the cover and the support and rotatably mounted in the compartment intermediate of said pivotal connections, and a tension springsecured at one end within the compartment directly below said rotatablemounting and having its other end attached to the cover rearwardly ofthe pivotal connection of said means therewith.

4. A typewriter desk having a compartment and a cover therefor, atypewriter support housed in said compartment, a pair of said typewritersupport by engagement with said marginal flanges so that the position ofthe supporting plate relative to the flanges may be reversed to vary theheight thereof, said pocket being provided to receive a compensatingweight of a size that will cause the combined weight of the typewriter,the support, and the compensating Weight to cooperate with the cover.

6. A typewriter desk having a compartment and a cover for normallyclosing said compartment, a typewriter support normally housed in saidcompartment, pivotal means supporting the cover and the support andadapted to dispose the support and a typewriter carried thereby in aworking 0- sition when the cover is opened, a tenslon spring secured atone end in the compartment and at the other end to the cover, saidspring being tensioned at a substantially uniform rate during the majorportion of the cover closing movement to effect an approximatecounter-balance between said cover and said support and at an increasedrate during the last part of the cover closing movement to cushion thefinal closing thereof,

and a compensating weight carried by the support and whose weight iscomplementary to that of the typewriter carried by said support wherebya substantial counter-balance is obtained between the cover and the saidsupport with a typewriter thereon.

EDWARD W. SIBLEY.

levers each of which is'pivotally connected 7 at its opposite ends tothe cover and the support and rotatably mounted intermediate its endswithin the compartment, and a tension spring having one end securedwithin

